This Is the Most Important Takeaway From That Ellen Pompeo Interview

“Actors typically hate discussing their paychecks in the press,” The Hollywood Reporter writes in its new cover story featuring Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo. But, this just in, Pompeo is definitely not one of them—at least not anymore. In “the hope of setting an example for others as women in Hollywood seize a new moment of empowerment and opportunity,” according to THR, Pompeo gives an unfiltered, f-bomb-filled interview in which she bluntly breaks down how she became the highest-paid woman in dramatic TV—after signing a more than $20 million–per–year deal last year.

The interview contains such gems as a Pompeo’s initial reaction to the instant success of Grey’s in 2005 (“I knew I was fucked”) and to first reading the script as a broke up-and-comer in 2004 (“I was like, ‘I’m not going to be stuck on a medical show for five years. Are you out of your fuckin’ mind? I’m an actress’”), as well as an anecdote from a meeting with Harvey Weinstein. “He didn’t try anything on me,” the Boston-bred star said. “Had he, I’m a little rough around the edges and I grew up around some very tough people, so I probably would have picked up a vase and cracked him over the fucking head.”

But at the crux of this refreshingly real Pompeo interview is some seriously (fucking) great negotiating advice, as imparted to her by her boss and mentor, Shonda Rhimes: “Decide what you think you’re worth and then ask for what you think you’re worth. Nobody’s just going to give it to you.” This motivated Pompeo—who, like many women, suffered from self-doubt—to ask for her monumental deal, which includes close to $600,000 per Grey’s episode, plus back-end equity in the series, producer’s fees, and a home for her production company on the Disney lot.

“Now, maybe it’s my Irish-Catholic upbringing, but you never want to [be perceived as] too greedy. Or maybe it’s just that as women, that’s our problem; a guy wouldn’t have any problem asking for $600,000 an episode. And as women, we’re like, ‘Oh, can I ask for that? Is that okay’” Pompeo said. “But CAA compiled a list of stats for me, and Grey’s has generated nearly $3 billion for Disney. When your face and your voice have been part of something that’s generated $3 billion for one of the biggest corporations in the world, you start to feel like, Okay, maybe I do deserve a piece of this.”

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And perhaps even more significant is the fact that when Rhimes achieved massive success at ABC—with Grey’s, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder and, now, a new deal with Netflix—she took Pompeo with her. “In Shonda finding her power . . . she has empowered me,” Pompeo said. “Now what did that look like? It looked like her letting me be the highest-paid woman on television, letting me be a producer on this show, letting me be a co–executive producer on the spin-off and signing off on the deal that the studio gave me, which is unprecedented.”

In a depressing statement on the state of Hollywood, however, Pompeo noted that she was better able to land her deal after Patrick Dempsey’s departure from Grey’s in 2015. “They could always use him as leverage against me—‘We don’t need you; we have Patrick’—which they did for years,” she said. And, in a bad look for Dempsey, she went on to say he declined to share salary information with her, which some stars, like Bradley Cooper, have vowed to do in an effort to narrow the pay gap. “He and I never discussed our deals. There were many times where I reached out about joining together to negotiate, but he was never interested in that,” Pompeo said. “At one point, I asked for $5,000 more than him just on principle, because the show is Grey’s Anatomy and I’m Meredith Grey. They wouldn’t give it to me.” Pompeo says she could have walked away—but thought, “Why should I walk away from a great part because of a guy?”

In yet more juicy spilling of network TV tea, Pompeo noted that ratings spiked after Dempsey’s exit—“and I had a nice chuckle about that”—and that ABC immediately attempted to rush another male love interest into Dempsey’s spot, as if allergic to the idea of Pompeo being a single, female protagonist: “They’re calling me, going, ‘What do you think of this guy?’ ‘What do you think of this guy?’” Pompeo said. “I was like, ‘Are you people fucking nuts? Why do you feel that you have to replace this person?’ I couldn’t believe how fast the studio and the network felt like they had to get a penis in there.”

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But as we all pass the popcorn, let’s also note that, particularly in the throes of #MeToo, Pompeo has a powerful message: That Oscar buzz and well-placed profiles are all fine and good, but in Hollywood, and most other industries, money is power.

“I’m not necessarily perceived as successful, either, but a 24-year-old actress with a few big movies is, even though she’s probably being paid shit—certainly less than her male costar and probably with no back end. And they’re going to pimp her out until she’s 33 or 34 and then she’s out like yesterday’s trash, and then what does she have to take care of herself?” Pompeo said in the interview. “These poor girls have no real money, and the studio is making a fortune and parading them like ponies on a red carpet. I mean, Faye Dunaway is driving a fuckin’ Prius today. Now there’s nothing wrong with a Prius, but my point is, she had no financial power. If we’re going to invoke change, that has to be part of it.”

After this interview, I’d say Pompeo will indeed be perceived as successful. Should she have any time in her admittedly packed schedule, she should probably write her own version of Lean In.

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